Other Side of Summer Sports

We all know how the summer is always filled with sports clinics all over the place. The primary goal of parents in sending their kids to sports clinics is to find something productive for them to do over the summer break. Sports thus becomes a break form the tough ten-month school-year that children go through every year. We wrote about this two weeks back and encouraged parents to make sure that their children’s summer is filled with sports activities.

But there’s another side to summer sports activities, especially for those who are already very much into sports. A typical summer for a student-athlete is to continue training in his sport. For some, they call it off-season training. For others, it’s the time to prepare for the upcoming schoolyear. So instead of taking a break from what they do during the schoolyear, they’re actually doing exactly the same thing that they’ve been doing for ten months. Isn’t this “boring?” Don’t you feel like burning out for doing the same thing all year-round?

And so here’s another twist that I’d like to propose for those serious athletes out there. Take a break! Drop the serious practice sessions and summer league games and do something else for a change. Let’s call it a summer of cross-training. Did you know that you can still stay in shape by doing something else other than your sport? Did you know that you can get in better shape when you give yourself a break and do something else?

Let me cite Manny Pacquiao as an example. He’s an excellent role model of how to stay in shape during his off-season. Did you know that the Pacman plays a lot of basketball when not preparing for a fight? Yes sir. Believe it or not, Pacquiao stays away from the boxing gym of punch mitts and punching bags and prefers to play basketball to stay in shape. In fact, some of these pick-up games have been organized here in Cebu (some of them publicly announced, while the others have been private).

So what can you do this summer outside of the sport that you love? Most coaches will tell their athletes that it’s fine to take a total break form the sport, but should look for other forms of physical exercise to stay in shape. At the professional level, the off-season break means a break from practice, but not from conditioning drills and cardio programs. Athletes can take a more serious approach at running and go into it on a religious basis. Conditioning coaches have programs that rely on running to build stamina as a means to complement one’s technical practice sessions. Others also go into biking. Since one doesn’t have the luxury of time to bike on schooldays, the summer is a perfect time to hit the road, discover new places and sweat it out at the same time.

For others, swimming is the way to go as it’s one of the best ways to get a total body workout. For the athletes in their upper teens, going to a different gym –the weight room- is a way to prepare for the upcoming season, something that a lot of professional players go into. Another popular trend that has already hit the Philippines but one which has not yet bloomed in Cebu is plyometrics. Have you ever heard of it? It’s a trend that is slowly but surely taking players out of the weight rooms and into another different kind of gym that highlights the unique need for speed and power. Plyo training is common among professional athletes but can also work well with young players since it doesn’t involve the need to lift heavy weights.

If you’re a Pacquiao fan (I mean who isn’t?), you can also take up boxing. Many have gone into it and have realized that it’s as tough as advertised. Speed, timing, footwork, power is what will improve in someone who takes up boxing. Aren’t these the very same things that you also need as an athlete?

There are so many other alternatives out there that an athlete can go into for cross-training: badminton, tennis, dancesport, aerobics, taebo, martial arts and so much more.

So what are you waiting for? Take a break and do something else.

***

Time-out: The Cebu Milo BEST Basketball Clinic will be held May 18-23, 2009. For more information, please contact 516-9036, 0918-939-4846 or 0923-342-8193. >>> You can reach me at [email protected]. -  THE FREEMAN